The Only Family I Have
by BIOrappers13
Summary: I hated my parents as a kid. They were abusive, harsh and they could not stop fighting. Every time they did fight, I would run off into the woods to cry... but it was in the woods where I found someone. Someone who was a real father to me and not at all abusive like my birth parents. And never once did he ever complain... partially because he didn't have a mouth to complain with.
1. Chapter 1

**What's good people? BIOrappers13 here and welcome to a new SLENDER MAN fanfiction! Now, I chose the Slender franchise as my new project this time for a couple reasons. Firstly, I really like writing dark things ****. Secondly, Slender Man SHOULD be getting over triple the amount of fanfiction he is getting. I'm actually surprised that there are so few of them in comparison to others, there are more Minecraft fanfics then there are for Slendy. So yeah, here's me trying desperately to get more people into the Slender fanfictions. Read and Review, Follow and Favourite and enjoy the story.**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Slender Man… SLENDER OWNS ME!**

**BTW: The first two chapters are gonna be written in a child's point of view**

~0000000000000~

Mommy and Daddy were not very nice people. They did weird things to each other, teased me and weren't very kind to our neighbours. I remember, from when I used to live with them, how they always argued. I can't even remember a day when they weren't fighting.

I recall one time I arrived home after school to see Daddy still in bed. Mom was at work and I wasn't sure she knew what was going on. He was supposed to pick me up from school and when he didn't come; my friend's mom dropped me off. When I arrived at my house, I saw a car parked in front. It didn't seem to be Dad's or Mom's. I found my dad sleeping in his bed, but the surprising part was that there was a woman in the bed with him. She was not my mom.

"Are ya ready for another round?" he said to the woman.

"Another round of what?" I asked him, "Are you two playing a game?"

I didn't exactly know what was going on at all. I didn't know why the woman had to quickly get dressed and leave, I didn't know why Daddy got really angry and I didn't know why he started to hit me.

"Now this going to be our lil' secret," he told me, "And if you tell your ma then I'll make you wish you never been born, ya hear?"

It wasn't the first time Daddy hit me. Sometimes he'd do it whenever he was drunk and Mommy wouldn't do anything about it. But after that day, he did it more often. The woman in the house was Felicia Anderson, she was a librarian at the school I went to. I found out who she was when I saw at school the next day; every time she saw me, she found it necessary to leave the room.

She started appearing at the house more often, but only when mom wasn't home. It was uncomfortable watching daddy kiss her and hug her so much so I always used to go out into the woods whenever she was over. I'd play there for hours until Felicia left. Daddy would then fetch me and warn me again of what would happen if I told anyone about him and Felicia. I promised him I wouldn't. Every time I cried when she was over, he would hit me. Whenever I talked to her, he would hit me. It happened about once a week and I didn't like it at all.

But I kept Daddy's secret. I kept it because I didn't want to see him and Mom fight again. Every time they fought, I would always get dragged into it. Sometimes, whenever Mom and Dad were arguing, I would go out into the woods to play. I'd never go too deep; I'd always stay close enough to the house so I wouldn't get lost.

I remember one day when I was colouring in pictures in my room, my parents started to fight. I blocked my ears so I wouldn't be able to hear them; every time they fought, I would end up crying and every time I cried, Daddy would hit me and Mommy would call me a 'Cry Baby'. I could just barely hear their argument.

"How the hell long has this been going on?" mom screamed at him.

"Nothing is going on, I swear!" dad replied.

"Nothing going on, huh? So you're telling me that a young slut _doesn't _show up at this house every second week to mess around with you?"

"How the hell did you know about that?"

"So it is TRUE!"

"HOW THE HELL DID… Emily," he said my name. After that I heard a lot of cursing and swearing. I pomise, I didn't tell anyone about him and Felicia, it was not me. Mommy might've found out some other way, all I knew was that it was not me. I made sure to keep my promise. But I knew an excuse wouldn't stop Daddy from hitting me.

"That little piece of crap is gonna wish she'd never been born!" he stormed up the stairs as I began to panic.

"I'm not done with you! Explain yourself!" mom screamed after him. I ran as fast as I could from my room to the bathroom. The bathroom was the only room I was allowed in which had a lock. I sprinted in, slammed the door shut and locked it.

"Please Daddy, I didn't tell anyone!" I explained through the door. My eyes were filling with tears as I began to sob. I could hear him stumbling up the stairs, he had just gotten back from the pub that day.

"Like hell you didn't! Open this Goddamn door!" he smashed his fist against the door with all his might.

"Emily, did you know your father was cheating!?" mother yelled.

"If you don't open this door right now, I'll kill you!"

"Open the door, Emily, and explain to mommy why you were too afraid of daddy to tell me the truth."

"Open the bloody door, Emily!"

"You and your father are terrible! I can't believe you would cheat on me and I can't believe my own daughter wouldn't let me know!"

"I'll kill you when you get out of there."

"Get your ass out here NOW, Emily."

What did I even do? What did I actually do to deserve to be in that situation? I was in a foetal position on the floor of the bathroom, bawling my eyes out, while my parents shrieked horrible things to me. I didn't do anything at all. I didn't deserve any of that. I could hear my father stop banging the door as his argument went from me to mom. I was so scared. Although they weren't yelling at me anymore, I could still hear them fighting right outside that door. The door looked as if it about to collapse. I couldn't stay in that room forever.

It was then when I climbed out the window to our two-storey house. I just barely managed to get out the window and the fall was a bit painful but nowhere near as painful as a beating from my dad would've been. Even from outside the house, I could hear their arguing as if they were right in front of me.

But I wasn't only hearing their current argument. I was hearing mom complaining about how dad was always at the pub, I could hear dad complaining about how mom never had any time for him, I could hear mom complaining about how dad always forgot to pick me up from school, and I could hear dad complaining about how he never wanted a child in the first place. All the arguments they had ever had were echoing through my head and I wanted it all to stop.

So I ran. I ran as fast as I could out the gate, across the road, through the neighbourhood and into the woods. I ran until the sound of my parents' hatred was clear out my head. I didn't care about getting lost at the time. I just wanted them out of my head for good. I ran and ran until my feet felt like they were bleeding and then tripped.

"Ahh!" I shouted as I fell to the ground. I scraped my knee badly against the floor and was bleeding hectically. I looked up and around, all I could see were trees and the night sky. I looked back in the direction at which I came, I must've been running for at least 5 straight minutes because there were no houses, roads, or any signs of civilisation visible. It felt like I was only running for a few seconds. The good part was that I finally had my parents out of my mind. The bad part was that I was hurt in the woods and couldn't see anything, it was so dark.

"HELLO?" I pleaded out, "I need help! I fell and hurt myself!"

Not a sound could be heard.

"SOMEBODY PLEASE! I NEED HELP!" I said with a whimper. "Please… I don't want to be alone in the dark."

It was then when I was someone in the distant. I could only see their face well enough, the person seemed to be wearing a black suit. "Hello? Can you please help me?" I waved to the stranger with one hand as I covered the wound with the other. "Please?"

~0000000000000~

It's a good thing that man showed up when he did. I was in so much pain I was about to start crying again. The man was nice; he came to me and picked me up, no questions asked. He could see I was in trouble (sort of) and immediately came to my aid.

I really liked the man. He was tall and strong and had no problem with carrying me. His arms were so long, it was as if he could carry 4 of me at once! He was also dressed formal, wearing a black suit with a red tie. The suit made me know he was a gentleman and not some weird kidnapper.

"Are you taking me to a doctor or are you going to fix my knee by yourself?" I asked. He did not respond. Maybe he wasn't feeling chatty at the time.

Maybe it was because he didn't have a mouth.


	2. Chapter 2

**What's good, people? BIOrappers13 here with my second chapter to this new Slender fanfiction! Sorry the first one was a bit short, this is kinda my first fanfiction which I'm determined on finishing and I'll try to make this one a bit longer. Last time we got to know the main character, Emily and her abusive parents. It ended with the poor girl in the middle of the woods, injured… until a friendly face shows up (its funny 'cause he doesn't have a face). Read and Review, Follow and Favourite and enjoy the story!**

**BTW: Sorry this one and the last one have been kind of short. I'm gonna try to make chapter 3 a lot longer.**

~0000000000000~

I didn't know who he was or why he helped me, he was a complete stranger. Out of nowhere, a man appeared in the woods at the exact time I needed help and carried me off deeper in the woods to treat my wound. It seemed like the right thing for anyone to do, to help a little girl, like myself, who was in need. But this man didn't even ask me any questions or anything!

As I said, I didn't know who he was or why he helped me, but I did know that at the time, he was showing me sympathy and that is something my parents never got around to doing.

The next morning, as strange as it may sound, I woke up on a pile of hay in a barn hidden in the woods. At the time, I was still a bit worn-out so I had forgotten all about the previous night with the tall man. I had only remembered him when I tried to stand but fell over because of my hurt knee. Looking down at it, I saw it was bandaged up the same way the doctors would do it every time I fell off the swings at school. Maybe the tall man was a doctor!

"Hello?" I called out as I managed back onto my feet, "Mister, are you there?" I was hoping I could find him so I could give him a big hug and thank him. It was the least I could do; I assumed he gave great warm hugs because his arms were so long. The barn I was in looked like it was quite the mess; hay scattered all over the floor, wooden walls that could barely hold back the wind, the door… there wasn't a door. There was a clear space where the door should've been but to my surprise, no door. Maybe it had broken off. I sure hoped that the tall man didn't live there.

I left the barn and began to walk around the area, looking for my helper. Every time I stepped with my right foot, an annoying tingle came to my injured knee, but I wasn't going to let that stop me from finding the tall man. As I walked about the now more pleasant looking woods (I never realised how pretty it looked during the day) I figured I might as well think of a name for him. Faceless Man, maybe? After moments of thought, I made up my mind that it would be a bad name. It was like calling a man without legs, Legless man and I was sure he would be insulted. Mr Friendly… no, it didn't seem to go with 'his look' if I were to say.

I continued to contemplate what name would fit him for a while, not paying much attention to where I was going. That was until I reached the lake at the edge of the woods. I was definitely lost. "Oh no, I hope I find Mr Friendly Faceless Man. He could be the only one to know his way out of here."

It was probably true. A lot of people used to talk about how their friends or neighbours or someone they knew went into the woods and never came out. I always overheard people saying stuff like that around town, talking about how a monster was snatching people up once a year. I hoped I would find the tall man so if I did run into a monster he would take care of it.

I turned around to find a different path but was caught off-guard by the tall man's sudden appearance. It was as if the entire time he had been walking only a few paces behind me. "Oh my gosh! You gave me a fright Mr Friendly Faceless Man!"

Upon hearing the name I gave him, he tilted his head in confusion. He was still wearing the suit he wore the previous night, had he slept in it? Curious about it, I asked him. "Did you sleep in that suit you're wearing?"

He _remained_ silent as he returned his head to its original position. It was so unnatural how he could stand dead still. "Where are my manners, good morning, Mister Tall Man! I never got to introduce myself last night, my name is Emily! I'm 6 years old and I love drawing!"

He gave no reply. "What's your name?" Silence. "How old are you?" He remained static. "Do _you_ like drawing?" Clearly he couldn't find his words, at the time. I guess the whole 'no mouth' thing was no joke.

"Well, thank you for helping me last night. I really appreciate it," I walked up to him and stuck out my hand to give him a warm handshake. He looked down to my hand, still without any expression as if he were thinking _'What the heck do you want me to do with your hand?_' Eventually, he grabbed it but didn't shake. He simply extended his hand to mine and held it, only for a second before jetting his hand back to his side.

"Why are your hands so cold… and bony?" I don't know if the question made him uncomfortable or if he was just being rude because he just turned around and walked back off into the woods. "Hey, where are you going?"

~0000000000000~

I enjoyed the tall man's company. He was a really good listener! For a while we were just walking through the woods, talking (I actually did all the talking as you can imagine). I occasionally asked him a question but he would either stay quiet or provide a nod/shake movement. But his lack of proper response didn't stop me from blabbering on.

"…And then Sophie dropped the birthday cake on my teacher's dress and the entire class laughed! It was so funny, you had to be there…" I paused for a second, "I just thought of something. You don't speak because you don't have a mouth. You don't have ears either, can you even hear what I'm saying? If you haven't been listening this entire time…"

His response was quite strange. His chest expanded as if he were inhaling in a sigh as he gently put his hand to where his face would be is he had one. My daddy did the same thing whenever I talked too much but he called it 'Facepalming'. "Are you getting annoyed at me talking so much?"

He nodded. "Well that's rude! How would you like it if I said that your refusal to reply is getting annoying?"

He stopped walking and remained still. I stopped a moment after and looked back at him hoping I didn't hurt his feelings by talking about his 'condition'. "Hey I was just joking, buddy."

He then suddenly picked me up with one hand and put me on his shoulders and continued to walk but in a different direction as to where we originally were. He was walking quite quickly as if he left the stove on in his house… if he had a house anyway. "Where are we going?" and as I expected, he gave no reply.

~0000000000000~

It took the longest and most annoying game of charades to find out, but eventually I did and he was trying to say he was going to fetch me food. I was beginning to get a little hungry but didn't say anything. I didn't want to put him through the trouble of going to the shops or something. He left me my on a tree stump near the edge of the woods and told me (gestured me) to stay still as he fetched the food.

"What do you expect me to do while you're out? Can I explore?" he shook his head aggressively and handed me crayons and some paper. He really could hear me the entire time; he remembered that I loved to draw. "Oh, crayons! Thank you Mr No-Name!"

And with that, he walked away to go get breakfast. He was a really nice and kind person to remember my love for art. He treated my wound, allowed me to rest in his barn, walked with me through the woods, listened to my chatter and was now giving me an art project, all that and I didn't even know his name! What was I to call this _Slender _looking _man_? An even better question, what was I to draw on the eight pages he gave me?


	3. Chapter 3

**What's good people of ? BIOrappers13 here with another update to my Slender Fanfic! I must say, I really do think I'm going to finish this one (unlike my Sonic Generations fanfic that died at the second chapter) and I hope you guys are enjoying the story of Emily so far! So previously, we had Emily running away into the woods from her crazy parents and injuring herself from a fall. Then a familiar face (it's funny cause he doesn't have a face) shows up and helps her by fixing up her poor bleeding knee. Now she's awake, the next morning, and chilling in the woods waiting for Slender Man to return. Read and Review, Follow and Favourite and Enjoy the story!**

**BTW: I know I told you guys that it would only be the first two chapters in the little girl's point of view, but turns out I had a lot more to do with her so y'all are gonna have to put up with her just a tiny little bit longer.**

~0000000000000~

The tall man and I spent the whole day together, never once did I leave his side. After breakfast he showed me around the woods and pointed out some of the landmarks. It took quite a bit of time because the forest was rather large but I didn't mind. The tall man carried me on his shoulders most of the time and when my leg started to feel better, I walked by myself. He used his really long arms to perch me up on top of trees so I could get a good view of everything, the forest was so beautiful from up there! I offered to pull him up with me so he could see but he didn't seem interested. It was okay, I probably wouldn't have been able to carry him up on my own anyways.

I was rather surprised when I saw how few rabbits or birds there were in the area. The occasional one popped up here and there but seemed to disappear away as soon as they got a glimpse of the tall man and I. Maybe they were shocked I was still in my pyjamas. I didn't mind, of course, the tall man was the only company I needed.

As we travelled about talking and sharing secrets, I hung my drawings around the area. I won't lie, originally I enjoyed the idea of scattering artistic drawings all around the woods but when I saw that I only had eight I chose to spread them about the vast area. My favourite of all the drawings was the one I put near the entrance to the woods. It was a drawing with me and the tall man holding hands. He really seemed to like it; he stared at it for a couple of minutes when I showed it to him. Well, I assume that means he liked it… I wasn't even sure he could see it but it didn't matter much.

Obviously, I couldn't stay with him forever. It was about 4 in the afternoon when I realised my parents were probably looking for me. I was gone almost an entire day, I didn't want to get them worried about. It seemed the tall man knew that as well because he started to walk me back to the edge of the woods where my house was. It wasn't what I wanted at all. I did not want to go back to my mean parents but I knew I had to; I couldn't just make myself the tall man's responsibility. That would be unfair to him, I knew because my real daddy always said that children were the biggest burden a man could get.

So I had to leave, but not before giving the tall man a big and warm hug. I could only wrap my arms around his legs but it didn't matter, I think he got my intention. He didn't hug me back though; he simply remained still staring into space. I got a bit teary eyed saying goodbye to him. As soon as I let go I wiped away a tear and looked up to see him but the tall man had vanished.

"Hello?" I called back into the woods, where could he have gone? "Hello, Mr Tall Man? Are you there? Hello?"

"There you are you little runaway!" that voice was too familiar to me. It was the voice of my mother coming looking for me. "Emily, where the hell have you been?"

Before I could answer, I felt the powerful sting of my mother's backhand on my face. But it felt different as to how it normally did. I only later realised it was because she wasn't wearing her wedding ring anymore. "Busy playing in the woods, huh? Get your ass back home now you little cry-baby."

Of course I started crying. What else was I to do?

~0000000000000~

From that day on, my daily schedule changed for the better. In the morning, mommy would drive me to school on her way to work as daddy stayed home with Ms Felicia Anderson. Mommy didn't mind anymore, she didn't even complain. She said Felicia and daddy deserved each other and didn't even complain. She also started taking more pills than she usually did for some reason. I never understood why she always at those pills but she said it was 'her escape'. I would stay at school from 8:30 to 13:30 when my friend Sophie's mom would drop me off at her house where we would play and draw and have fun until 16:00. Then daddy would come and fetch me and take me home and I'd stay there until bedtime at 19:30… or at least they thought I was still at the house.

At 19:30 daddy would still be out at the pub and mommy would still be working so they both assumed I was asleep. But I would actually be out running in the woods with my new closest friend, the tall man. But I couldn't just walk out the front door, I needed to climb out my window and get onto the roof so he would fetch me. I would close my eyes and jump off of the roof of my house and his cold elongated arms would catch me and pull me into the darkness of the woods… then we would play some super fun games!

We had footraces (which he would always win because he walked as fast as I ran), we had staring contests, (which he would always win because every time I looked at him for a long time, I would get this weird static headache feeling), we skipped stones in the lake (which he would always win because his long throwing arms could toss trees) and we played my favourite game… hide and seek (which he would always win because he had practice with a lot of other people).

Something about being chased by a faceless man in the woods was really fun to me, I didn't know why. He was always waiting to find me by the pages I left around the woods. It was so weird; I think he knew I was attracted to them. It was fun but sometimes it was really scary when he popped up every time I turned around.

It was the most enjoyable part of my day. The few hours of play I had with me tall friend were the best hours of my day. Sometimes I would tell Sophie about my tall friend but she wouldn't believe me. She said that friends were supposed to be about the same size and age as you.

"Why can't I have an older friend?" I asked her on day in the playground.

"I'll tell you why not, why don't you call your parents your friends?"

"I don't want to talk about my parents, Sophie."

"Sorry, Emily," Sophie apologised, "Why don't you call my mom your friend? You're always at our house, you really like her, why don't you call her friend?"

"I don't know, really."

"You call her aunt, am I right?"

"Yeah?"

"Exactly, old people are either strangers or family to you! Why do you think so many people call the teacher 'mom'?"

"Do people still do that?"

"Yeah, they do it all the time! I did it by accident yesterday!" Sophie said with a smile.

"So what're you're saying is," I started, "The tall thin man is a dad to me?"

"Sounds like it, you don't like your dad much, its only fair if you have another one."

"What about my mom?"

"You and I can share the same mom! We can be sisters! You can play with your dad in the woods at night, as weird as that sounds, and you can hang out with me and my mom after school every day!"

The idea of having two new parents didn't seem like a bad one. My real parents never really cared about me, I was always with Sophie's mom and the tall man who looked out for me. They never shouted at me, they never hit me and they never complaining about me to their friends at the pub or work colleagues. I thought about how cool it would be to match up my tall friend and Sophie's mom so we could all be a proper family (sure, at the time I forgot all about my actual parents but heck, it was a cool idea). That would've been amazing! Sophie's dad passed away before she was born and the tall man was living in the woods without anyone to love him. Sophie's mom and him would be a perfect match… Remembering that he was without a face threw that plan off immediately but I still kept it in mind.

"Here's what he looks like," I showed Sophie a photo I drew of him in class. "Check out his really long arms!"

"He's quite slender, isn't he?" Sophie traced his thin body with her finger. "What did you say his name was?"

Feeling ashamed, I admitted the truth, "I don't know his name; he doesn't really talk."

"You could call him Mr Slender," Sophie suggested, "Or Slender Man."

I thought about it for a moment. "Sophie that is probably the worst name I've ever heard in my life."

~0000000000000~

After school that day, I chose to go straight to the woods instead of joining Sophie back at her house. I felt that we needed to talk about our relationship and seeing if he was willing to take it to the next level (by adopting me of course). I had made up my mind; I didn't want my biological father to be the one I looked up to. I wanted a father who loved me and showed me compassion like Mr Slender (that was to be my official name for him).

Upon my arrival in the forest, I began to search for my friend. It was quite the mission. First, I would have to walk deep enough into the woods that I would be lost, then I would have to walk off in the creepiest direction and from there, he would find me. That was my routine for finding him whenever he didn't come to fetch me. I was in the middle of the woods when he found me. Obviously, he was walking behind me the entire time just so silently I couldn't even notice.

I released a gasp upon seeing him behind me when I was about to walk off in a new direction, "Oh my gosh, Mr Slender, you keep scaring me like that!"

He tilted his head in confusion, the same way he did when I said his name was Mr Friendly Faceless Man the morning after we met. "I think I finally chose a name for you, Mr Slender! Do you like it? My friend Sophie came up with the idea."

He didn't reply. "I'll take that as a yes! If you didn't like the name, you would've told me otherwise! So how has your day been?"

It was the second month I'd known him, that day. Two months of me going out into the woods at night to meet up with my non-biological father and those had been the best two months of my life. I wanted to forget all about my real parents when I was with Mr Slender. I wanted to forget all about the beatings and the affair and the pills and Felicia Anderson. I wanted nothing to do with any of that. Mr Slender was my new best friend, father and older brother.

When I brought up the idea of him and Sophie's mom getting together, he seemed to recoil in horror to the idea. It was as if he were saying, _'Ew, Sophie's mom? Are you kidding me?'. _He didn't seem to like the idea of getting married. I could tell because whenever I brought it up, he would shiver and shake violently, so I chose to keep out of it.

But eventually, my curiosity won out, "Mr Slender? Why do you live in the woods by yourself?" he paused and stared out into space. "I'm serious, you seem like a really nice guy. Why don't you make friends outside the woods?"

He turned to me and crouched down, placing his arm on my shoulder. It was rather strange; even though he was crouched down he was still so much taller than me. He shook his head. "But why not? I'm sure there are a lot of people out there who would like to be friends with you. Why don't you leave this place?"

He remained still for a few seconds before placing his index finger on his other hand on my nose, then my ears, then my lips. "You think they'll find you weird because you don't have a face?" He nodded.

How cruel was that? How could the people out there not like a person only because of what they had or didn't have? Looks weren't everything. And so, I took my backpack off my back and began digging through it for my pencil case. When I found it, I removed a dark blue magic marker and looked at Mr Slender. He peered at the marker and then at me. "They want you to have a face so I'll give you a face." And with that, I began to draw on his pale surface.

I gave him lovable and kind round eyes that were welcoming. I gave him a small little nose, about the size of mine. I also added well cultivated eyebrows along with a few freckles for each cheek and concluded with a big happy smile. He looked rather handsome, if I do say so myself.

"There, now they have to accept you!" I said, wiping a tear from my eye. "Now you're just like everyone else."

And with that said, he gave me a hug… and it was the warmest, friendliest and most loveable hug I had ever received in my life. His long arms embraced my tiny self, leaving me hardly any room to hug him back. This faceless man in the woods really did have a heart, and he did indeed give the best hugs.

"Adopt me," I had said to him, still in his warm grasp. He then slowly let go of me… and nodded.

~0000000000000~

_I do indeed miss those days. The days I ran off into the woods to meet with my adopted father. He was a better parent, the best parent and the Only Family I Had. But, little did I know that in my youthful years, 11 years ago it was, I loved him out of ignorance. I loved him because I didn't know him as well as I knew my real father. Had I know who or what he really was, I would've ran away from him and feared the woods. I would've called him a monster, because he really was a monster. But as he was a demon, so were my real parents, so was Felicia Anderson, so were my peers at school and eventually, so was I. _

_My father was the Slender Man… and it didn't matter if he had killed one man or one thousand men, women and children, I would've still loved him out of ignorance. As I love him now._


	4. Chapter 4

"So, tell me what's been going on with you," the guidance counsellor asked, "What's on your mind?"

"Why should I tell you? You're probably not going to have any good advice to assist me in any way, so why bother?"

"You can't be too sure of that, Emily," she grabbed a pad of paper and pen to take down what I would say. "My advice has helped a plentiful of students in this school. And besides, don't accept my help and what are you going to do? Keep on with this charade, pretending as if you're not going through anything?"

"I'm no pretending to do anything, ma'am," I explained. "I don't act like everything is okay while I slowly die on the inside like all other hormone driven teenage girls do nowadays as if it's the latest trend to look weak. I know I have a problem that cannot be solved so I am learning to live with it."

"Emily," she leaned forward and took of her glasses to provide a comforting glance, "I promised Cassandra that I would do something to help you. Now I can't just act as if what you're going through is nothing, I need to at least try and you need to accept my help if you wish to try make any progress."

I remained silent for a few moments looking down at the floor avoiding eye contact eventually to respond, "Fine, what do you want to know?"

"Start by telling me about the nightmares you've been having lately," the counsellor said as I gradually looked back up at her.

She was already misunderstanding me. Something that everyone failed to understand was that the dreams I was having were not nightmares and were not the main problem. People naturally thought that they were nightmares but in truth, those were normal dreams for me. But I understood why they made the mistake, the dreams did sound rather disturbing.

For those curious, it was a dream that was rather close to my reality. In the fantasy, I would wake up, go to school, go back to Sophie's house afterwards, and spend the rest of the day reading; that was the dream. It seems really plain and boring, nothing to get a person in the guidance counsellor's office. But in my dream, everyone was without a face. Everyone had pale white and cold skin, there was a constant mist around me that would blur out almost everything (making the reading part rather difficult) and I didn't even have control over my body. It was like watching the most disturbing and mind-numbingly dreary movie of all time.

I told Sophie, Cassandra and some friends at school about the dream but besides them, no one. Ever since they started, I've been losing a tiny bit of focus at school (I euphemise, in truth my marks dropped dramatically) I started falling asleep in class and every time I was awake, my notes and the books looked blurred as if by a mist. I didn't know why it happened or why it was happening, but I knew that it couldn't be easily reversed and changed back to normal. It had all been happening for about a month.

I explained it all to the guidance counsellor. She took down notes with a troubled expression and she generally avoided eye-contact as if we switched roles temporarily. When I concluded, she reviewed over her notes twice making me doubt her ability to assist me in any way. She seemed interested yet at the same time, tremendously confused.

"Thank you for sharing with me, Emily," she said upon removing her reading glasses once again but still remained fixated on her notes. "Do you," she hesitated, "Do you think this current situation is a result of the issue you were experiencing 10 years ago?"

"I don't think so," I replied, "I can't see how my abusive parents could lead to this."

"Emily-"

"Because, that was the only issue in my life 10 years ago. Unless you're insisting that there was more that I wasn't and still am not aware of."

"Emily, you know what I'm talking about," she said as seriously as possible without sounding demanding. In truth, I did know what she was talking about and I absolutely agreed with her. The difference with what she said and my intention were that she was insisting that the Slender Man chaperoning me in the woods was an issue where I saw it as a simply fact of my childhood that was neither positive or negative. "You act as if your previous predicament is invalid to your current-"

"Stop euphemising and call it as it is," I interrupted abruptly, "please."

She was hesitant but eventually gave in. "I would like for you to acknowledge that Slender Man kidnapping you as a child was a problem and a very big one and stop pretending as if it was through love that the creature took you."

"Thank you," I started, "for saying that truthfully and honestly; God knows that no one else I met has ever been that forward with me. But you and everyone none the less need to understand that I was never kidnapped once. I walked into the woods intentionally."

"Then why is it that every other person who encountered the Slender Man were never to be found? He kidnapped those who first intentionally walked into the woods but eventually discovered their choices were of…" she paused when she found herself euphemising again, "He killed people who wandered into the woods and he would've killed you too. It is the truth you have been avoiding most of your life."

From there, I stopped listening to what she was saying and tried to make a decision. Should I have told her the truth, the truth I had told no one else? I knew that if anyone could've helped me, it would be her and in truth, people did deserve to know the truth about the man they feared in the wood. I decided to tell her.

"There's something you should know," I cut her off in mid-rant. She looked at me, slightly frustrated, she probably expected me to continue arguing, "something I haven't told anyone else about the Slender Man."

Her livid expression was quickly erased when she heard this. "What is it, Emily?"

"But if I tell you, you have to promise me that you won't share this with anyone," my terms were clear; "I want you to _swear on your career_."

"On my career?"

"On your career. If not than I can just solve the problem myself."

She gave in, "Fine_, I swear on my career_ that I will not tell your secret to anyone. Now please, the sooner you tell me, the sooner we get to solving this problem."

I took a deep breath. "I wasn't with the Slender Man for one day, as everyone thinks. I was with him for an entire year."

~0000000000000~

_I ran as fast as my little feet could, sprinting with no heart to look behind to what I was leaving. I was so scared; I couldn't believe the situation was so bad that it would lead to that. What my daddy did that day was worse than all of the beatings combined, and mommy couldn't do anything to stop him. I knew he was angry enough to abuse those closest to him, but I never knew he would ever be so angry that he would take a life._

"_Emily! Emily, come here now you little rascal!" he called, chasing me into the woods. I was so petrified; worried that he would catch up to me and put a bullet in my skull as he did to mother. I refused to die that day._

"_Mr Slender!" I cried into the woods, still running as fast as possible. "Mr Slender, help me! He's going to kill me!" _

_I was living a horror movie, running from a crazed murderer in the woods. It was only made several times more frightening when I found myself tripping and falling over a collection of roots and twigs. I wound up crashing painfully against the floor but with no bruises or cuts, to my surprise. He was still stumbling drunkenly after me, occasionally firing a shot into the air to intimidate me. I began to crawl._

_It was difficult crawling, wiping tears, calling for help and moving as fast as possible at the same time. It was the worst feeling ever; a perfect mixture of depression fear regret and anger. Depressed that this was my life, fearful that I might die, regretting ever returning home and angry that my father was so cruel. _

_If I were on my feet, I might've been able to lose him in the woods. I'd been spending my nights there for an entire year and had the area memorised fully. I knew all the areas that were difficult to navigate through where I could've lost him but it mattered nothing because I was crawling. It didn't take too long for him to catch up to me._

"_You little rascal!" he announced upon finding me. He pushed me over to lie on my back as he began to wrestle me down. I resisted as well as I could but my arms were pinned down and I my feet couldn't manage to keep him off of me. "Look at what you've down! Look at what you've done! Because of you, your mother is dead you stupid little devil!"_

_His voice was loud and every syllable he articulated with his exaggerated Texas accent. His breath reeked of alcohol and cigarettes and his eyes were blood red making me find his entire nature revolting and off-putting. I noticed he placed his gun down next to my head when he pinned me down; if I could wriggle free and grab hold of it…_

"_You're gonna end up just like your mother," he grabbed hold of my throat violently and began to strangle me, "A cold lifeless dead body!"_

_I reached for his gun with one hand as the other struggled to remove his large hand from my throat. I tried to plead for mercy but my windpipe was almost completely cut off (or it at least felt like that). I felt as if I was dying knowing that if he continued for longer, I would be. Eventually he noticed me reaching for his pistol and lifted me into the air as he stood._

"_You would dare try to kill me?" what followed was rather painful. Letting go of my neck, he grabbed my waist and lifted me high above him. He then threw me as if I were a random broken object that could be disposed of easily. My hurdling body crashed into a tree and hit the ground with a mighty thump. My ears were ringing, my eyes were watering, my body was in pain; I felt like a great big mess. I was going to die in those woods and nothing I could do would save me._

_I managed to sit upright as he readied his gun and aimed it at me. I could barely see with all the tears in my eyes. It was terrible not knowing what was going on around me. I rubbed my eyes hastily and looked up to see my father… and behind him, my ideal father._

"_What the hell are you looking at?" my dad screamed at me. I remained quiet and watched as he turned around to face what was to be his greatest fear. His jaw nearly dropped when he saw before him a tall, slender and faceless man. "What the hell is that?"_

_He did not hesitate to fire two shots straight into the gut of the Faceless Man that stood before him; because of his failure to hold his pistol properly, his wrist sprained and he dropped the weapon in pain. But the tall man stood there still, as if the bullets did nothing to him. No blood, no wound, nothing. He simply stood still and watched my father… before 6 long and jet-black tentacle like limbs burst from his back._

_A few moments after, I had witnessed both my real father and my fake one taking a life. I watched, purely horrified, as Mr Slender hung the body of my father from a tree by piercing a branch through his chest. The expression on my father's face was a paused horror, his eyes were unnaturally wide and his jaw gaped making him appear to be a ghost, complimented by his pale white skin. I didn't know whether to thank Mr Slender or run away from him as well. I just remained as quiet as possible while keeping tears from flooding my eyes._

_It took a bit of courage, but after about 10 minutes of silence in the presence of my dead and living father I spoke. "Why did you have to kill him?"_

_He remained dead still, peering down at me in a slightly scary way; only made more threatening by the rigid tentacles coming out of his back which's movement resembled that of a spider's limbs. "I have no real parents now. You're all I have."_

_It was then that I began to weep. I scrunched my tiny body into a ball in front of my father's legs and wept, while he stood still watching me. I thought the situation and my life couldn't get any worse, but the police had to arrive._

"_I heard the gun shot's coming from here," a distant voice called. I ceased my crying and looked up to see the distant shining of torches and flashlights along with the barking of guard dogs. The police were searching for me._

"_Mr Slender," I snivelled solemnly, "You need to get out of here or they'll kill you."_

_Upon saying the word 'kill', Slender's body stiffened and he stared out in the direction of the police. He began shivering vivaciously and clenched his fist. The sub-limbs on his back began creaking and twitching unsettlingly and only reminded me of a panicked arachnid. A brow-like figure appeared on his forehead; bent downward giving him the illusion of a furious expression. It took me seconds to realise that he was not near done with his murdering session. He indeed was an overprotective father._

"_No, Mr Slender, don't do it!" I got up and tried to grab his arm and stop him but he moved so quickly, it almost resembled teleportation. With an instant dash, he was amongst the policemen. It took half a second for first blood and another half second for the gun-fire to begin. "No, stop! Please stop! Don't kill them, Mr Slender! They're good people!"_

_I ran towards the horror scene as fast as I could. I was the only one who could manage to stop Mr Slender from hurting those policemen. My ears were ringing continuously with the sound of panic from the police. "What the hell is this thing?" and "It's there behind you!" along with "Get the hell outta here!" were being screamed about in a jumble as the amount of voices quickly decreased, some at the hint of a final scream._

_By the time I reached them, there were 2 cops left alive out of the 9 that I found. Screaming and begging for Slender to stop his assault, the tall man obliged. There was blood all over the sleeves of his once sophisticated suit. The cops were stunned and paused instantly, keeping their gaze on me. "Mr Slender, please. Let's get out of here."_

_After a full year of visiting my adopted father in the woods, I finally saw what he was. He was a monster, not even remotely human. His hands were covered in the blood of the innocent policemen and at the same time, that of my other murderous biological father. Why didn't he have a face? Why was he so abnormally tall? Why were his arms longer than the doubled size of my body? Why was he outcast into the woods? What was I running to at the end of every day to find refuge from my abusive parents? I didn't even know what his name was, for God's sake._

_The rest of the night was a blur. I remember running again, but from whom I am not too sure. I remember seeing more police arrive and shooting at Mr Slender, along with his brutal retaliation. I remember the nice policeman promising me that I was out of danger, he looked like he was about to cry as he said it. Finally, I remember Sophie's mother, Cassandra, coming to pick me up from the police station._

_That was my last time going into those woods._

_ s_


End file.
